Visualization In Mathematics Reading And Science Education

Visualization in Mathematics, Reading and Science Education

Science education at school level worldwide faces three perennial problems that have become more pressing of late. These are to a considerable extent interwoven with concerns about the entire school curriculum and its reception by students. The rst problem is the increasing intellectual isolation of science from the other subjects in the school curriculum. Science is too often still taught didactically as a collection of pre-determined truths about which there can be no dispute. As a con- quence, many students do not feel any “ownership” of these ideas. Most other school subjects do somewhat better in these regards. For example, in language classes, s- dents suggest different interpretations of a text and then debate the relative merits of the cases being put forward. Moreover, ideas that are of use in science are presented to students elsewhere and then re-taught, often using different terminology, in s- ence. For example, algebra is taught in terms of “x, y, z” in mathematics classes, but students are later unable to see the relevance of that to the meaning of the universal gas laws in physics, where “p, v, t” are used. The result is that students are c- fused and too often alienated, leading to their failure to achieve that “extraction of an education from a scheme of instruction” which Jerome Bruner thought so highly desirable.

Reading for Evidence and Interpreting Visualizations in Mathematics and Science Education

CRYSTAL—Alberta was established to research ways to improve students’ understanding and reasoning in science and mathematics. To accomplish this goal, faculty members in Education, Science, and Engineering, as well as school teachers joined forces to produce a resource bank of innovative and tested instructional materials that are transforming teaching in the K-12 classroom. Many of the instructional materials cross traditional disciplinary boundaries and explore contemporary topics such as global climate change and the spread of the West Nile virus. Combined with an emphasis on the use of visualizations, the instructional materials improve students’ engagement with science and mathematics. Participation in the CRYSTAL—Alberta project has changed the way I think about the connection between what I do as a researcher and what I do as a teacher: I have learned how to better translate scientific knowledge into language and activities appropriate for students, thereby transforming my own teaching. I also have learned to make better connections between what students are learning and what is happening in their lives and the world, thereby increasing students’ interest in the subject and enriching their learning experience.

Models and Modeling in Science Education